Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:32:57 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion webmaster@nysun.com en-us Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/rem-koolhaas-delirious-dubai.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/rem-koolhaas-delirious-dubai.html Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:32:56 EST "A city cannot be a work of art," Jane Jacobs once wrote. Well, the renowned architect Rem Koolhaas has designed an enormous city-district that looks like a gorgeous work of art. To call it a mega-project would be a gross understatement. How about "giga-project"? Below is what it's supposed to look like. It's one-square-mile of man-made island to be built on an artificial harbor in the Emirate of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, the cost of which, even before buildings, will be Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/a-walker-in-the-city-just-not.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/a-walker-in-the-city-just-not.html Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:16:26 EST Where do commuters walk to work the most? New York? Celebration, FL? Portland, OR? Try Tempe, AZ — part of metro Phoenix, Exhibit A in the case against so-called urban sprawl. Here's a list of the top cities with "The highest percentage of residents who get to work on foot": Tempe, AZ New Haven, CT Bloomington, IN Cambridge, MA Biloxi, MS Portsmouth, NH Cincinnati, O Stillwater, OK Vermillion, SD Burlington, VT Laramie, WY (Source: Annual survey with the American Podiatric Medical Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/community-boards-face-incentive.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/community-boards-face-incentive.html Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:55:09 EST How effectively can a community board convey the actual land-use preferences of the community it's supposed to represent? This is the deeper question underlying the debate on Sheldon Solow's $4 billion proposal to develop the site of the old Con Ed power station — on the East River just below the United Nations — reported in Peter Kiefer's article in the Sun. (There was also a lively discussion in the comment section of the related editorial here.) FYI, there are 59 community boards, created Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/a-moratorium-on-eminent-domain-an.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/a-moratorium-on-eminent-domain-an.html Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:51:14 EST Mayor Bloomberg and a host of New York mega-developers, including Bruce Ratner, may be squirming a bit as David Paterson becomes governor on Monday. As a member of the state legislature, Paterson called for a state-wide moratorium on what he described as a "gold rush" of the use of eminent domain across the state. You can read the Sun article here. (For the time being, the slumping economy seems itself to be imposing its own kind of moratorium on large-scale public and private construction, Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/can-helping-artists-stay-put-spur.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/can-helping-artists-stay-put-spur.html Sat, 8 Mar 2008 01:16:17 EST One typical pattern of economic development, in New York and other cities, is when artists move into a run-down district that has lots of cheap space and turn the place hip. Hipness then attracts galleries, funky performance spaces, and quirky shops, eventually luring in high-income users — residential and commercial — who increase the demand for space but over time price out the artists who started the whole thing. It's a version of what Jane Jacobs calls the "self-destruction of diversity" — Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/following-up-on-my-last-post-and.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/following-up-on-my-last-post-and.html Tue, 4 Mar 2008 00:21:58 EST After yesterday's posting on how some local mega-projects are scaling back, Peter Kiefer of The Sun had an article today on the same subject (with much more extensive reportage), "Unease erodes ambition on real estate." In addition to the projects I mentioned, Mr. Kiefer covers the Fulton Street Transit Center (which I blogged earlier), delays in the redevelopment of Penn/Moynihan Station, and Brookfield Properties dropping out of the race for construction of Hudson Yards on the Far West Side Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/with-recession-in-the-wind-local.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/03/with-recession-in-the-wind-local.html Sun, 2 Mar 2008 01:54:39 EST It was only a couple of months ago that the prospects for growth in Downtown Brooklyn were so rosy. There were estimates of more than 14,000 new residential units to be built in the next few years, the tempestuous but on-going plans for Atlantic Yards, and a lively revamped Metrotech district were just a few of promising developments. Things have changed. Recent postings in the blog "Atlantic Reports" have noticed an apparent scaling back in the description of the Atlantic Yards development — Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/the-city-of-perfect-love-and-trust.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/the-city-of-perfect-love-and-trust.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:53:00 EST I found this passage in Mark Helprin's "A Soldier of the Great War," about an old man recounting his youth, very moving — and true. It mentions Rome, but it could about be any great city. Though he knew it was not true, he felt that in Rome someone would be waiting for him. Perhaps it was because the magic of cities is that they provide the illusion of love and family even for those with neither. Lights, the business of the streets, the very buildings close together, the interminable variety Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/wendell-cox-responds-to-my-post-on.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/wendell-cox-responds-to-my-post-on.html Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:21:32 EST In an earlier post, "Is LA really denser than NYC?" I wrote that I was puzzled with Wendell Cox's data showing that Los Angeles is denser than New York. He left a comment that, with his permission, I reproduce below: The data Dr. Ikeda questions is not mine, it is that of the United States Bureau of the Census. In 2000, the last data available, the Los Angeles urbanized area (urban footprint) had a population density of 7,068 per square mile. The New York urbanized area had a population Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/taking-from-peterboro-to-pay-st.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/taking-from-peterboro-to-pay-st.html Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:23:55 EST "For more than a generation, presidential aspirants have mostly resisted acknowledging the importance of the cities' well being," says a recent New York Times editorial, "In search of a real urban policy" (February 19, 2008). It cites a Brookings Institution study calling for more state and federal spending in metro areas. Here is a related paper. The editorial goes on to say that in this election year, "Voters deserve to hear a lot more from the presidential candidates — in position papers, Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/architecture-in-spain-freedom-and.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/architecture-in-spain-freedom-and.html Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:45:00 EST Clive Irving on MSNBC writes that Spain is "Europe's most innovative culture." He wanted to learn why Spain "has become a magnet for architects — at least eight Pritzker winners are currently working on projects there." Says Richard Rogers, last year's winner of the prestigious Pritzker prize in architecture: "In terms of culture, Spain is the most interesting country in Europe at the moment…. The craftsmanship is as good as the best anywhere." Centuries of Arab occupation are one reason, Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/the-ryugyong-hotel-a-fitting.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/the-ryugyong-hotel-a-fitting.html Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:40:00 EST Esquire magazine claims the 3,000-room, 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in central Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, is "The Worst Building in the History of Mankind" (hat tip again to Mario Rizzo): In 1987, Baikdoosan Architects and Engineers put its first shovel into the ground and more than 20 years later, after North Korea poured more than two percent of its gross domestic product to building this monster, the hotel remains unoccupied, unopened, and unfinished. (FYI, North Korea's per Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/is-la-really-denser-than-nyc.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/is-la-really-denser-than-nyc.html Thu, 7 Feb 2008 19:53:18 EST After my post on density and the ensuing discussion, I e-mailed Wendell Cox, who runs the website Demographia, asking how he reckons that Los Angeles has a higher population density than New York City, something he says has been true since 1980. He responded immediately and generously gave of his time over the phone. To begin with, his concept of a city, as I understand it, is based on the physical contiguity of what urbanists call "the built environment." A city is thus an agglomeration of Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/bridges-on-further-inspection.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/bridges-on-further-inspection.html Mon, 4 Feb 2008 21:39:26 EST On a positive note, the state of New York comes out looking good, and Hawaii very, very bad, in an MSNBC article, "Late inspections of bridges put travelers at risk," where you can find the rankings of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, from worst to best, in terms of the percentage of bridges that are over 2 years overdue on inspections. The "top" states in this regard are: Hawaii, where at least 46.5 percent of all bridges went beyond two years; Rhode Island, 27.5 percent; Arizona, Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/public-mega-projects-our-costs.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/02/public-mega-projects-our-costs.html Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:33:48 EST From the New York Times, "Building costs deal blow to local budgets," we learn that State and local governments in many parts of the country are struggling to pay for roads, bridges and other building projects because of rising construction costs… Experts say high costs are linked to competition from a global development boom. This includes major construction in China, India, Canada, and the Northeastern United States as well as in post-hurricane Florida and the Gulf Coast. The impact locally Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/secession-new-york-city-as-polis.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/secession-new-york-city-as-polis.html Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:15:15 EST Secession's in the air again: Emboldened by Mayor Bloomberg's testimony in Albany this week that the city's taxpayers pay the state $11 billion a year more than they get back, a City Council member is offering legislation that would begin the process of having New York City secede from New York State. Peter Vallone Jr., a Democrat who represents Queens, is pushing the idea, and the Council plans to hold a hearing on the possibility of making New York City the 51st state. You can read the Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/coffeehouse-culture-iii-now.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/coffeehouse-culture-iii-now.html Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:48:26 EST So what's the difference, as it relates to work productivity, between distractions at home and distractions in a coffeehouse? There are at least two. The first is that, because you're being watched by a number of people, whether they let on or not, you're more self-conscious in a coffeehouse about getting up all the time (admittedly, surfing the Web may be immune to this social constraint), which raises the cost to you of doing it (and this is in addition to the cost of food and drink) and so Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/coffeehouse-culture-ii-the.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/coffeehouse-culture-ii-the.html Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:47:50 EST It's no secret that people don't always go to a coffeehouse for conversation or for coffee. In my favorite neighborhood hangout, for example, the coffee quality ranges from okay to burnt tire rubber. Like me, where I started writing this entry, people often use coffeehouses as an "office." (I couldn't do this in my overall favorite NY coffeehouse, Caffe Dante in the Village, because computers are banned there — thank goodness!) Coffeehouses have always been filled with solitary figures who Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/coffeehouse-culture-i-new-york-v.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/coffeehouse-culture-i-new-york-v.html Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:46:16 EST The life of a city consists of what goes on in its public spaces. In New York, and increasingly in other American cities, coffeehouses are a vital part of this public life. According to Café Life in New York, "cafés" or "coffeehouses" as I prefer to call them, are places that "function mainly as gathering places with coffee and/or tea as the central offering. … These cafés beckon the patron who has come to stay awhile, often a long while — order a single cup of coffee, and you are welcome to Sandy Ikeda http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/is-new-york-losing-steam.html http://www.nysun.com/blogs/culture-of-congestion/2008/01/is-new-york-losing-steam.html Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:51:45 EST One of the unique images of New York that I had growing up in the Southwest came from movies and television shows with scenes of steam mysteriously seeping up from the streets. Much later I learned that these wispy trails were actually bleed-off from some 100 miles of steam pipes networked under the city streets. That steam is today generated by seven Con Edison plants (five in Manhattan and one each in Brooklyn and Queens) that serve around 2,000 buildings located mostly on the East Side,